Acceptance of inequality between children: Large-Scale Experimental Evidence from China and Norway

Abstract

In a novel experimental design with nearly 10,000 adults and children, we study how adults in two societies characterized by very different levels of income inequality, Shanghai (China) and Norway, make real distributive choices involving children. We document a large cross-societal difference in the acceptance of inequality between children: adults in Shanghai implement twice as much inequality between children as do adults in Norway. This finding is robust to varying the age of the children and key features of the economic environment. Finally, we show that the willingness to accept inequality between children is predictive of attitudes to child policies.

Keywords: Childhood inequality, fairness, social preferences, moral development

JEL Classification: D63